The Unquadable
by roxygoth
Summary: Nicky, Dicky and Dawn have a quad meeting to try and discover exactly what is wrong with there brother.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Roxy Goth here, this is my first time writing for Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn. This story takes place during October when they're High-School Freshmen.**

 **I do not own Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn.**

"Quad meeting." Dawn announced.

Dicky and Nicky, who were sitting at the kitchen table, Dicky texting and Nicky pouring over a recipe immediately looked up. Dicky put his phone in his pocket and got up.

"Woah, woah, woah." Dawn grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him back into his chair. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting Ricky?"

"Yeah, last time I checked a _quad_ meeting usually involves four of us." Nicky said, sarcasm edging along his voice.

Dawn shot him a glare before explaining. "Not when the meeting is ABOUT Ricky it doesn't, which means we've only got about half an hour before Ricky finishes his homework. Now." She sat down. "Since starting High School has anyone else noticed changes about Ricky?"

"He smells a lot more." Dicky said, trying to be helpful.

Nicky let out a small groan and Dawn face-palmed. "Not _those_ sort of changes, Dicky. I _meant_ changes in his behaviour. How he acts and stuff. Especially at school." She leaned back in her chair. "He seems alright at home…"

"Mmm. He has been a little more nervous lately." Nicky said, thoughtfully. "Last Thursday when I have cooking and he had Japanese after school he seemed really…on edge."

"Like, how?"

"I don't know how to describe it…" Nicky leaned forward and linked his fingers together. "It seemed almost like he…didn't want to go…"

"But he loves Japanese." Dicky pointed out, arms folded. "And Maths. And English. And Science…"

"We get it, he loves academics, does this have a point?" Dawn asked, patience running out.

"Yes." There was a silence.

"Well?" Nicky asked.

"Well what?"

"What's the point?"

"Of what?"

"Ricky's loving academics!"

Dicky held his hands up. "Alright, alright, no need to shout. My point is he got a 98 in his science paper at the end of September and he was really pleased about it remember?"

"Oh we remember." Dawn said, smiling a bit. Ricky had been over the moon about it, while at the same time rubbing it in their faces that he had the highest score in the class. They'd had a mini-argument about it resulting in Dawn rubbing the fact she had the highest track record in Phis Ed in Ricky's face. Ah, good times.

"Well the week after his mood just changed about it. He seemed nervous whenever anyone asked about it. Miss Morgan said she was going to put it on the board of achievements for that week."

"I don't remember seeing that." Nicky said, concerned because he was sure that if that had happened Ricky would have dragged them over to it to show them.

Dicky nodded. "That's because he said he didn't want her to. Miss Morgan never puts anyone's achievements on the wall if they don't want her to."

There was a pause as Nicky and Dawn looked at each other. "How do you even know this?" Dawn asked. "You two aren't even in the same science class!"

"True, but one of my friends is. He told me about it."

"This is weird." Nicky leaned backwards and folded his arms. "It's like he's changed his whole attitude to school."

"Doesn't that usually mean there's something wrong?" Dicky asked. "Like Dawn dancing wrong?"

Nicky let out a small snort as Dawn said, pointedly. "I'll let that one slide. And yes, yes it does. Which means…"

"Aliens have come and taken over Ricky's body?" Dicky said eyes wide.

Dawn and Nicky looked at their brother in confusion before Nicky said. "No."

Dawn leaned forward and said, slowly. "What I mean is there's a chance he's being bullied." As soon as those words escaped Dawn's mouth the air suddenly felt heavier and they each digested the information.

"He can't be." Dicky said, after about a minute's pause. "He'd…tell us, right?" Getting no reply, the long-haired boy said. "Right? I mean, we're quads! We tell each other everything!"

"Well, not everything." Nicky said, mind working overtime.

"Yeah, okay, but we tell each other everything important!"

"Yeah we do so..."

"He must be scared to…" Nicky said, cottoning on.

"Which means there's a reason he's scared…?" Dicky said, slowly connecting the pieces.

"Which means he could be getting threatened?" Dawn finished.

There was another pause. Then Dicky pointed out. "But Ricky doesn't really care about what people think of him. That's one of the things I like about him."

Dawn and Nicky nodded. "Yeah but, we're in high school. Completely different environments." Dawn said.

"Plus who said they're threatening him?"

Dawn and Dicky looked at each other before looking at the youngest quad. "What?"

"What does Ricky care about more than academics?"

"Us." Dawn and Dicky said together.

Nicky gave a thumbs up. "Exactly. As Dicky said, Ricky doesn't really care about what people think of him, but he cares about us and what people think of us. I mean, I'm just theorising here, Ricky might have since August started caring more about what people think of him but I can't help thinking if that was so, we'd have noticed."

Another pause and then Dawn banged her fist on the table. "Ugh. There's too many possibilities."

"So what are we going to do?" Nicky asked.

"Ask him?" At Dicky's siblings stared at him he shrugged. "What? It makes sense. He's the one living his life; he knows what happening to him. Who better to ask?"

"What if he denies it?"

"Then we tell mum and dad what we think and they can do something about it. But I don't think he will. Deny it I mean, if it's been going on since August he probably either consciously or unconsciously wants someone to notice. If we ask him, gently and with tact then he'll probably tell us. I don't know how he'll actually react but…what?" Dicky asked, seeing his siblings just staring at him.

"How do you…?"

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know. I could be a Sociologist!"

"You mean a Psychologist." Dawn corrected.

"That to!"

Nicky shook his head. "C'mon." He got up. "Let's go speak to Ricky."


	2. The letter

**_Hey! I'm back; let's crack on with the story. The letter Ricky writes is typed in italics. I am putting in a trigger warning for description of bullying. Not to explicit I think, but maybe the reactions of Nicky, Dicky and Dawn might upset some people? Just covering all bases here._**

 ** _See chapter 1 for the disclaimer. I do own [sadly] Sam Phillips._**

As the three of them reached the top of the stairs they noticed an envelope stuck on Dawn's bedroom door with blue tack.

"What the-?" Dicky said in complete confusion as Dawn plucked the envelope of her door and looked at it.

"It's Ricky's writing." She said immediately. "It's addressed to all of us."

Nicky and Dicky looked at each other. "So…what do we do?" Nicky asked, realising how stupid his question sounded he clarified. "I mean do we go to Ricky and open it _with_ him or open it and _then_ talk to him."

"Let's ask him." Dicky said and, not waiting for an answer, went to his door and knocked.

"Yes?" Ricky's voice sounded slightly apprehensive.

"We've got your letter. Do you want us to come and talk to you about it?"

"Have you actually read it?"

The three quads outside the door looked at each other. "No…" They said together.

There was a sigh of annoyance from the other side. "And just how do you think we're going to have a conversation about it if you haven't read it?"

"You want us to read it and then talk to you about it?"

Although there was no verbal reply the three remaining quads understood. "We'll be in my room if you need us, okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright, goodbye, c'mon." Dawn waved her hand to indicate that she wanted her brothers to follow her. Together they went to Dawn's room and sat on her bed with Dawn in the middle and her brothers sitting either side of her. "Right. Here we go, opening the letter…right now." Dawn went to open it paused and then with a sudden burst of determination said, under her breath. "For flip's sake, Dawn, pull yourself together." And tore the envelope open and shook the one sheet of paper in it out onto the floor. "Is that it?"

"Pretty short for Ricky." Nicky commented.

Dicky picked it up. "There's writing on the other side." He observed.

Nicky shrugged. "Still pretty short for Ricky."

Dicky nodded and with a small smile handed the letter to Dawn. "Here you go."

"Why do I get it?" Dawn said, taking it by the edge.

"Well you are four seconds older than us. As the oldest it's your responsibility to read it."

Nicky gave a small laugh at Dawn's furious expression. "He's got you there."

Dawn sighed and looked down at the paper, gripping it with both hands, crumpling it slight. Dicky and Nicky edged closer to her and waited for her to start. When she didn't her two youngest brothers looked at each other and then back to her.

"Er, Dawn?" Nicky said, gently.

"I can't." The blonde said, quietly.

"What? Why?"

"I…I'm scared about what it might…say. It's stupid, I know."

"Well normally I would but I can never understand what Ricky writes."

Nicky sighed. "Give it here, I'll do it." One quick re-arrangement later and they were ready. The youngest quad steadied himself before reading out loud.

 _"_ _Dear Dawn, Dominic and Nicholas."_ The quads looked at each other, full names; clearly this was a very serious subject. Nicky cleared his throat and carried on.

" _First of all I apologise for the informal manner of this letter. I'm writing this at lunchtime on Friday the 18_ _th_ _."_ Nicky paused.

"That is today, right?" He checked.

Dawn got her phone out her pocket and checked the date. "Yeah, it is."

"So lunchtime today Ricky was writing this." Dicky said, slowly. "Wow. Weird to think."

Nicky carried on. " _I might as well just come out with it. I'm being bullied."_ All three siblings swallowed and glanced at each other before the youngest carried on. " _I'm sorry for not telling you this to your face, but I honestly think if I did I might get upset. I'll tell you the facts, I've been being picked on since the beginning of September by Sam Phillips, who you might remember is the jock who's in the same grade as us and seems to think he owns the school. Since September he has been…"_

Nicky took a deep breath then shook his head, blinking back tears, Dawn soothingly rubbed his back.

"I've got it." Dicky gently took the paper and took over. " _Since September he has been pushing me into lockers and various other objects and calling me a variety of names. Nerd, Geek, Freak and Wimp being the main ones. I do understand that maybe in the grand scheme of things those name might not sound like much but…"_ Dicky swallowed before carrying on. " _When you're being called them pretty much every day for the past seven weeks it does make you feel…rather inadequate to say the least."_

Dicky paused and then checked with his siblings. "Inadequate means bad right?"

"Yeah." Dawn was hunched over hands clenched on her lap. "Carry on."

 _"_ _The main thing and the thing that prompted me to write this letter is that this morning I was pushed down the stairs by him."_

"What!?" Dawn and Nicky exclaimed together.

Dicky held his hand up. "Will you two shut up!? I'm trying to read this thing." He ran a hand through his hair before going. " _Don't worry too much, there's no broken bones but I think I might have a couple of bruises to say the least. I think he meant to push me into the lockers next to the third-floor science stairs but misjudged it."_

Dawn sat straight up. "Is he seriously trying to justify it!? It doesn't matter what he 'meant!' He shouldn't _be_ being shoved into lockers or…anything!"

"Well yeah, but you know Ricky he prefers to think that most people are ultimately good at heart." Nicky muttered into his hands. "Even prats like this piece of…well. You can fill in the blanks…"

His two older siblings hummed there agreements. "How much more?" Dawn asked.

"Only a bit." Dicky assured her.

Dawn flicked her hair away from her eyes. "Go on then."

"Yer, get it over with." Nicky agreed, rocking himself back and forth gently.

" _Anyway, Mae happened to be standing in the corridor at this point. I should point out that up until this point he's been very careful not to pick on me around any of you guys or Mae. I think he just got confident."_

"And what did Mae say?" Dawn asked, eagerly. Dicky shot her a look. "Sorry. Carry on."

Shaking his head Dicky resumed. " _Mae helped me up of the floor and basically demanded I tell her what was going on. Well…you know what Mae gets like when she gets serious about something. So I told her pretty much everything I've outlined in this letter. She then wanted to go and tell you, Dawn, straight away."_

Dawn frowned. "Mae's not told me anything." She said, slightly accusingly.

Dicky waved a hand. "I'm getting there! Anyway…" He turned the page over. " _She didn't because I asked her not to. Well, I say asked. I pretty much begged. She relented on the condition that I tell you guys at some point over the weekend. She wants a phone call from you Dawn to let her know that I've done it. She doesn't want a text because she knows we know each other's passcodes and she thinks that I might just text her on your behalf. Honestly, she's so suspicious."_

Dawn laughed. "That's Mae alright." She said, making a mental note to hug and thank her best friend the next time they saw each other.

"It's gotta be near the end now." Nicky said, pleadingly.

Dicky nodded. "Yeah, only a couple more lines. _Anyway, with this in mind I wrote this letter in the library at lunchtime and I'm giving it to you at some point over the weekend. I don't know when. When you get it, whenever that might be, I know you'll want to talk to me about it so just come and find me whenever you're ready. Preferably with the letter in hand so I know that it's definitely this you want to talk about._

 _Oh, BTW the reason I didn't tell you, as well as being told by Sam that no one would believe one of the Harper quads who have a reputation as trouble makers…'_

"Oh come-!" Nicky exclaimed, sitting up indignantly.

Dicky slammed the piece of paper down on his lap. "Right, can I please just finish this frickin' letter!? Anyway… _He said basically if I told anyone he'd find a way to make you guys pay. Not me, just to clarify, you guys. Look – I know we argue pretty much 24/7 but I don't actually want you guys to get into any form of trouble of be Injured in anyway so…those are my reasons for keeping quiet. Alright, I think that's everything._

 _Lots of love, Richard.'_

"Lots of love AND a full name?" Nicky raised an eyebrow. "This must really have affected him."

"Right." Dawn took a deep breath. "I suggest we take a few minutes to…calm down before we go and talk to Ricky."

"Agreed." Dicky and Nicky said together.


	3. The conversation

**Hey! I'm back, hope you're all alright. Warning: Could be upsetting or triggering.**

 **Btw I've seen the episode 'What's the worst that quad happen' which was interesting to me because it shed light on how the quads react to one of them revealing something quite…deep and personal. Their reactions are based on that brief moment at the end of that episode.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer.**

"Right." After a couple minutes of silence Dawn spoke. "Do we think we can go and talk to Ricky without getting too upset?"

"Probably not." Nicky said, immediately.

Dawn sighed and pushed her hair back of her face. "Can we at least give it a go?"

Nicky paused and nodded.

"Dicky?"

"…I want to punch him."

"What, Ricky?" Dawn said in surprise.

"Of course not Ricky! Sam flippin' Phillips!"

"I feel the same." Nicky told his hands.

Dicky brightened up and nudged him. "You hold him, I hit him?"

"You're stronger than me, _you_ hold him, _I'll_ hit him."

"Nobody's hitting anybody!" Dawn snapped, as both of her brothers stared at her she once again ran her fingers through her hair. "We're going to talk to him. Now."

With that they all got up and left the room, Dicky quickly snatching the letter up as he went, remembering Ricky's instructions.

He hurried to join his siblings just at the precise moment outside the brothers room Nicky was hammering on their door. "Ricky, we've read it. Let us in. Please."

Immediately the door opened and the first thing Ricky did was throw his arms around Nicky and nearly squeezed the air out of him.

"Eck, okay. Alright." Nicky awquadly patted his brothers back.

"Ricky, you're suffocating him." Dicky said. Nothing happened. "Ricky, he's turning blue."

With that the blonde boy let go. "Sorry." He said immediately. He sighed and then waved his hand in the direction of their room. "Shall we go in?"

Once in they all looked awquadly at each other all wondering who would speak first. Eventually Dawn broke the silence. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?" She asked confusion evident in her eyes.

"I…I don't know…"

"It's been going on since _September,_ Ricky, come on!" No reply. "Ricky!"

"I don't know!" Ricky said again.

"You must!"

"I don't-!"

" _Richard_." Dawn looked him straight in the eyes.

Dicky and Nicky exchanged a glanced at each other each wondering what would happen.

Ricky went silent, clearly having some sort of mental debate before he just burst out. "I was scared, okay! Terrified! Do you know-do you-" Ricky stopped before starting to pace as he spoke. "Do you have any idea what it's like to walk into school knowing that today something will happen, be it…be it thrown into lockers, called names as you walk down the corridor - only when you guys aren't there of course, which means it wasn't as often as it could be but still-and everytime you try and put your hand up in class he groans and rolls hs eyes or makes comments suppsidly 'under his breath' but you can still hear-"

"Wouldn't the teacher had heard?" Nicky asked.

Ricky shook his head. "Always said it hen the teachrs back was turned. Or when they left the room. Plus Doctor Shane's a little bit deaf, so…"

"Science teacher?" Dicky asked.

"Biology, yes. Anyway today he pushed me down the stairs…"

"Ah yes, tell us how that happened again?"

"We've just read it, how bad is your memory?" Dicky said, in confusion.

Dawn glared at him and said through gritted teeth. "I _know_ that, Dicky, but I want to hear it from Ricky."

"But-"

"No buts, Ricky speak." The oldest flat out ordered. Dicky and Nicky exchanged a glance.

"Well…I think he meant to push me into the lockers on that third floor, you know the ones right next to the stairs but he just missed…"

"But he managed to push you into lockers before?"

"Well yes..."

"Ricky!" Dawn took a breath before saying calmly and statingly. "Do you not think that maybe he _meant_ to…push you down the stairs?" Ricky opened his mouth but Dawn didn't even let her brother speak. "You could have been injured, Ricky. I mean, no broken bones this time, thank god, but next time? Broken bones, cracked skull? Where does it end, Ricky? With you in hospital, _unconscious_? In a _coma_? Or god forbid, _**dead**_?"

"Stop it!" Ricky yelled at the same time as Dicky went.

"DAWN!"

And Nicky went. "You're scaring him!"

Dawn stopped and looked at Ricky's pale face before saying. "I'm sorry but, it's true! Do you know how many bullied kids end up commiting suicide? I don't know the exact number but a lot. I'm…" She took a breath. "I'm trying to get it into your head that not telling us could have led somewhere…terrible."

"I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't."

"Cos he said he'd make us pay and that no one would believe one of the harper quads?" Dicky said, while looking at the letter.

"I don't think we're that bad that no one would ever believe us about something as serious as this." Nicky said, seriously. "I know we've had a couple of runs of bad luck but still…"

"I wasn't worried about that I was worried about the making you guys pay thing. As I said in the letter believe it or not I'd quite like you guys to remain uninjured."

"He said he was gonna hurt us?" Nicky said, eyes going wide.

"Well…no, not exactly. Not in those words I mean. He just said he was going to make you pay. He never said how."

Dawn, Dicky and Nicky exchanged glances.

"Why do I get the feeling he was…what's the word? Scare mongering?" Dicky asked.

"Not the word. But I know what you mean." Dawn said.

"Great, mind filling me in on what you guys mean?" Rickie said, a tad impatiently.

"I don't _think_ he ever intended to make us 'pay'." Nicky explained. "He's only one guy, right?"

"Right."

"He can't make us all pay at the same time, we outnumber him. And he's a hardly the example of Mr Muscle Man is he?"

"Definitely not." Dicky agreed.

"And if he tried to do something to one of us, we'd tell someone."

"Would you?" Ricky said, arms folded. "Would you really? It's different when you're _in_ the situation, Nicky. _I_ thought I'd tell someone if I ever got bullied and clearly that didn't happen."

"Yes but from Sam's perspective keeping one quad separate from the rest of them is easy enough, keeping all of them scared enough to not tell someone is even harder. As you and Nicky say, he's just one guy." Dicky mused.

Dawn held her hand up. "Look we can talk about this to the end of civilisation the point it, Ricky, we're glad you told us, we're going to tell mum and dad…"

Ricky groaned.

"We have to, Ricky. It'll all get sorted, you two." Dawn pointed at her two youngest brothers. "Won't do anything to Sam Phillips no matter how much you think he deserves it, and Ricky you can work on getting your confidence back. It should work. Hopefully."

"Sounds good." Dicky said.

"Fine with me." Nicky added.

All eyes turned to Ricky who sighed. "Okay. But you're coming with me when I tell mum and dad. Mum's going to cry and I _do not_ want to deal with that on my own. Deal?"

"Deal." His siblings replied.

Dawn opened her arms. "Bring it in, quad hug!"


End file.
